February 2009

February 25, 2009

I'm wishing a Happy Happy Birthday to my big sis KIM {Lydia loves to say KIM} who is 37 today!!!! Kim & I are very close... we're the closest in age & she has been by my side when each of my children were born in the operating room. She's a GREAT sister {as are all my sisters} and couldn't imagine my life without her!

I can't wait for tomorrow... all my sisters & my mom get to go shopping and enjoy the day together {which is what KIM wanted to do for her bday}. We haven't got to spend a day all together for a very long time. We were hoping our sis-in-law could come too, but alas... work!

February 23, 2009

one more pound this week. I'm 1 pound away from the lowest weight I was at the end of July... this is when it makes me mad that I put those extra 3 on! Oh well, it could be a lot more! Can't wait until Thursday to look for some Hawaii clothes. My sisters, my mom & I are going on a little shopping excursion for my sister Kim's 37th birthday {which is on the 25th}. I have a few summer clothes in the correct size that I bought towards the end of summer & a few others that I've picked up here & there, but still have a lot to get! The biggest challenge, of course, is the swimwear. I researched out the best suits for girls with upper body ampleness & ordered one that everyone had raved about on the websites, so hopefully that will end my bad swimsuit drama! {please, please, please!!!!!}

Speaking of summer clothes, I was packing up last years or previous years summer stuff from the kids closets to send to the resale shop over the weekend. Oh my... of course Lydia needs all new sizes {which I had started getting end of season last year}, but the boys, who I thought were in pretty good shape, will practically need all new shorts & several shirts. I think Collin ended up with 1 pair of shorts in his size & Evan about 3. Yikes, I better be checking out the ebay auctions... warm weather will be here before we know it... I hope!

February 20, 2009

Lydia got a haircut this morning & my friend Pam prettied her up with the curling iron... it was even cuter before she stuck her hat on her head. She made sure grandpa told her how pretty she was when I took her to see them this morning! As you might be able to tell, she wasn't exactly in the mood for a picture at the time.

February 18, 2009

Lydia's been a talkin' fool lately... really cute to listen to. Some of my favorites recently are her repeating Evan's "awesome" & her sitting on the couch "reading" one of her Elmo books, getting to the last page & saying very clearly "can Elmo have a kiss?" {which is the last line of the book}. Then, of course, giving Elmo a kiss with the correct sound effects "Mmmmm...uhhhh!". Last night after the boys were in bed, she kept trying to go up the steps saying "kisses, kisses". When they aren't being good, she's probably the first to say "stop it" or "be quiet" or "bad boys" {I've given her the nickname "boss lady"}. She loves to talk on the phone also. Lydia is quite proficient in the use of the cell phone. Somehow she knows exactly how to call the last person you've talked to. Her favorite people to call are mama Klesner, KIM! KIM! & RICKK {she's very good at producing those c & k sounds}. It's so amazing everything she is saying right now. Very interesting how she can put some sentences together & put things in the correct context. I'm afraid we're going to have a real talker on our hands! We'll have to make sure we don't give her any information that we don't want publicly displayed.....

Collin's taking his invention to state! Yesterday was the second level of the Invent Iowa event in Burlington & we're so excited that Collin got chosen to advance to the next level in Ames. Ahhh, the magic of cookies! I wish I could have gotten a picture of his face when they called his name... priceless. Two of his friends from Holy Trinity get to go as well & a friend from Denmark {those are the people we know}... congrats Lillian, Connor H & Joey! After we got done in Burlington we had haircuts, so the girls in the salon got to try out the cookie dispenser & then the little girls at the babysitter tried it out for their snack time. Needless to say, it was probably the biggest hit with them. We're very proud of you Collin!

February 16, 2009

I figured if I'd post my weight loss {or gain!} here, as well on the WW website, I'd be more likely to be a good girl! We found out last week we're going to Hawaii in April {insert squeals & happy dance here}, so that geared me up to renew my weight loss after going between the same 3 pounds over the last several months. I'm hoping that if I could lose between 1 to 2 pounds a week I should be able to get down another 8-16 pounds before we leave. Wish me luck... I weighed in this morning & I was down a pound from last week. My sister Kim & brother in law Randy are working hard as well... she calls me every Monday with their weigh-in... today she was down 2 & he was down 4. Good job guys!

As of right now, we're trying to rid our house of of all marker or marker type related items. She works fast... we've also found marks on doors, stair railings & clothing.... rarely coloring books or paper. I hope this is just a phase!

So for Valentine's Day I started out the day with reading out loud to the kids a little letter I put together for each one of them. In each I let them all know the top 8 things I love about them right now. After that, we gave the boys each a little lego race track that they've been spying in the stores & Lydia got a few cars... one with Elmo in it & one with Cookie Monster in it. So now, she goes upstairs with the boys when they're playing with their cars, she brings hers up too. Her favorite thing is to "crash" them by throwing them off the top steps. I wonder who she learned that from? She also got a few Elmo books that kept her busy over the weekend from Babysitter Kim & Aunt Carol. Dan got me this little mum that will get planted outside the porch when the weather gets better {thanks honey!}.

I was so excited to here that last Tuesday my friend Ali, her husband Chris & big brother Simon welcomed a little pink bundle into their world. Miss Anna is so lucky to join this very special family & I'm so happy for them to experience how this little girl will change their life in so many ways. We're thinking of them & sending love & prayers for everyone! You can see the little cutie here. Congratulations!

With some especially nice weather over the last few weeks, we've been getting some tastes of outside play, which is good for everyone {especially mommy}! Here are a few pics I took the other day...sorry I couldn't resist the last picture of that cute little bum.